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(Symptoms of Insanity are Side Effects of Insomnia)

Remus Lupin resembled a zombie. Which is quite ironic considering he is actually a werewolf.

His most recent transformation had been Saturday night, two nights ago. It was now Monday morning, and he was dead tired. His skin was pale (well, paler than usual) and he had dark circles under his eyes. He dragged his feet as he walked, his whole body feeling like lead. Sore lead. His professors probably would have excused him if he wanted to skip classes and rest, but he didn't like missing lessons if he didn't absolutely have too. It was just, he had a lot of trouble sleeping the few nights before and after a transformation.

Around two nights before the full moon, he began to get very uncomfortable, like his whole skin itched and didn't fit quite right. Once he did get to sleep, he would often wake up burning hot, kick off his covers, only to wake again later to find himself freezing cold. After the full moon, even though he had been hurting himself less with the help of his friends, his whole body still ached, making it hard for him to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

Remus shook his head, trying to wake himself up more. He should be use to this by now! Squaring his shoulders, he entered the charms room with his three friends in front of him. The Marauders sat down in their usual seat towards the back as Professor Flitwick began his lesson. Remus tried to concentrate and take notes, but it was difficult when he was so tired. However, he noticed with an appreciative smile, his three normally slacking friends were diligently taking notes, trying to get as much down for the worn out werewolf to look at later if he needed to.

As the class went on, he noticed his friends shooting him concerned looks more and more often. He found this odd since, while he was sure he looked like death, they should be use to him looking like this the first couple of days after a transformation. He didn't know what their problem was. After a while, Peter leaned over, whispering.

"Moony, are you ok?" Remus blinked.

"Yeah, why?" Peter pointed down under the table. Remus looked and saw that he had been shaking his right leg. He hadn't even noticed himself doing that! He shook his head and stilled his leg.

"Oh, sorry guys." The only response he got were understanding smiles. The class continued uninterrupted for a while again. However, a few minutes later, James tapped Remus' shoulder. Once he got his attention, he pointed under the table again. Remus looked and saw his leg had been twitching again. Actually, he was getting a bit fidgety in general now. He felt like he had been injected with caffeine or something. He felt exhausted yet… awake? But that didn't make sense…

Soon, the professor ended the lesson, stating that the students could have free time until class was over. The Marauder quickly huddled together.

"Are you alright Moony?" Asked Sirius, concerned for his friend. Remus nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." The others exchanged a look, but decided to let id drop as they headed towards transfiguration. When they arrived, McGonagall looked a bit surprised to see Remus among them, but did not comment on it. The lesson itself wasn't very long, and soon they were told to make the rats is front of them disappear.

As the class got to work, Remus found himself staring at the animal, wand raised, leg twitching, and absolutely no idea what to do. It was true, he felt strangely more awake, yet he hadn't seemed to hear anything that McGonagall said.

"Moony?"

Remus turned slightly, seeing that James and the others were looking at him, worried again.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

Remus blinked, but other than that did nothing. In his mind, his thoughts were a jumble.

He asked me something. Right? I suppose I should answer. What do I say? What did he ask in the first place? Heh, this rat is cuter than Peter is when he transforms… was that mean? He never liked being compared to a rat anyways so…

"Moony? Hey, Moony!" Remus blinked as Sirius snapped his fingers in front of his face. He turned to see his friends looking very concerned, he assumed for a good reason. He looked over at Peter, suddenly remembering his previous thoughts, and began chuckling. This just confused the others more.

"Uh, what's so funny Remus?"

"Hehehe, Peter's uh rah nghm cuhl nn." James, Sirius and Peter exchanged alarmed glances. Even Remus seemed confused by what he had just said.

"Um, come again?"

"Pen rha-… Pern Ruhmn-… Ugh! Petgh Rawfnl ghk…" Remus shook his head. His leg, and now his hand, was still twitching and he couldn't seem to make his mouth form words. It was all quite frustrating. He took a deep breath before attempting to speak again one word at a time.

"Petur… iz… ah… rat." He suddenly burst into giggles, although he wasn't sure why, since what he had said wasn't particularly funny. He found himself laughing a bit harder as James and Sirius each grabbed one of his arms and pulled him out of the room while Peter stayed behind to explain the situation to McGonagall.

He was still laughing when the Padfoot and Prongs released him in the hallway. His whole body was practically shaking. He resembled Sirius on a sugar-high.

"Moony? Do you want us to take you to back to our room? Or to the hospital wing maybe?"

Hm, James is speaking again. I should try answering…

"Ey, Prongssz… You like Gryffndar, right?" James looked confused at the random question, Moony himself wasn't quite sure where he had come up with it.

"Uh, yeah?" Remus grinned, suddenly feeling very energetic.

"What was that spell you assidently hit Sirius with that one time? The one that messed up his hair? Oh right…" Remus whipped out his wand and said a quick spell, James' hair suddenly turning bright, hot pink. James shrieked and Sirius couldn't help but join Moony against the wall, laughing. Moony rubbed at his eyes.

"Haha, My bad Prongz. It was suppose to be Gryffindor red."

"Ha, I think, haha, I like this better!" James glared at the two of them. Remus abruptly looked up at them, still smiling.

"Can we go outside?" His two friends were once again confused.

"What?"

"Outside. Can we go there. I need to run."

"Wait, wait… you want to run? Is that such a good idea?" Not only was Sirius concerned with his friend's current mental state, but he knew Remus was usually pretty sore after his transformations. But the were wolf just nodded, holding up his shaking and twitching hands.

"Yeah. Yes. I need to run. Gotta lot of energy. Running will help. Will have less energy after. See? Need to run. Yes."

"Um, maybe we should…" James trailed off. It was quite clear Remus was no longer listening. He was staring off into space, a blank look on his face. He snapped his fingers in front of his face like Sirius had.

"Moony! Come on, snap out of it!" Remus blinked a couple of times.

"Prongs?"

"Yeah. Look, I think we should get you back to bed for a while." Remus started laughing.

"Uh, what's so funny?" Remus stopped laughing.

"I'm not sure… You guys wanna play a game of exploding snap? Or where's Snivillus, I need to do something…"

"How about we go back to the common room and do something there?" Remus appeared to be thinking for a moment before smiling widely.

"Ok!" The three then returned to the Gryffindor common room, Remus humming and practically skipping in between James and Sirius. Once there, the two (currently) sane Marauders actually began to enjoy watching Remus. He kept laughing at nothing and throwing pillows at them and jumping up and down and occasionally slipping into gibberish. After about forty minutes (and some very satisfying photos) Remus finally began to calm down. By the time class ended and Peter returned, the werewolf had passed out on the floor next to the couch. The three smiled at each other.

Wordlessly, James gently picked up his thin friend, carrying him back to their room followed by the other two. A few minutes later, the three Marauders were quietly exiting the room, switching off the lights before slipping out to try to fix James' hair.

Meanwhile Remus lay, sleeping soundly in his bed with the covers carefully pulled around him and the smell of fresh ink still lingering.

39.) Becoming so tired, you actually become super hyper.

I have suffered from insomnia since seventh grade, and while I'm not sure how it is for other people, one day every week and a half or so, this is essentially what happens to me. I seriously get so tired I go a little, well, insane. The laughter and hyperness, all things my friends and family have to deal with. And I really do have a lot of trouble speaking on days like that. So all those misspelled words (at least when Remus is speaking) are on purpose.

Well, I hope these chapters satisfy all of you, and I would like to once again express my apologies for being such a terrible updater. But thank you all for reading and I shall try my hardest to get better! Till next chapter (hopefully sooner than these ones)!

~~~BFMS~~~